Adoption Intensity of Selected Organic-Based Soil Fertility Management Technologies in the Central Highlands of Kenya
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Date
2022
Authors
Mwaura, George G.
Kiboi, Milka N.
Bett, Eric K.
Mugwe, Jayne N.
Muriuki, Anne
Nicolay, Gian
Ngetich, Felix K.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Frontiers
Abstract
Soil fertility decline continues to be a major challenge limiting agricultural productivity
globally. Despite the novelty of organic-based technologies in enhancing agricultural
production in Kenya’s central highlands, adoption is low. Therefore, we carried out
a cross-sectional household survey of 300 randomly selected smallholder farmers to
determine the specific organic-based practices by farmers; and the socioeconomic
factors that influence the adoption intensity of selected organic-based technologies.
We used descriptive statistics to summarize the data and the Tobit regression
model to evaluate the socioeconomic determinants of adoption intensity of selected
organic-based technologies. We identified nine organic-based technologies that had
different adoption rates among the farmers. The majority of the farmers had adopted
manure (97%) and manure combined with fertilizer (92%) in Murang’a and Tharaka-Nithi,
respectively. Manure was applied to the largest land in Murang’a with 31% of the
cultivated land. In comparison, manure combined with fertilizer had the highest adoption
intensity in Tharaka-Nithi applied to about 25% of the cultivated land. Gender, age of the
household head, level of education, household size, access to external labor, training,
Tropical Livestock Unit, agriculture group membership, access to credit, land cultivated,
and farming experience influenced the adoption intensity of organic-based technologies
among smallholder farmers. Based on the smallholder farmers’ adoption behavior, this
study can be used to disaggregate the farming households better in order to tailor specific
organic-based soil fertility technologies solutions that meet their unique needs. One
group would be those households that face specific constraints, as reflected in their low
adoption rates, women-headed households and older farmers, and thus require more
targeted / intensive efforts to overcome these barriers. The other group would be those
households that require less focus because, when confronted with the technologies, they are more likely to adopt them easily, for example, the male-headed households. Hence,
the smallholder farmers’ adoption behavior, can enable policymakers to form a base for
designing appropriate policies that encourage the adoption of organic-based soil fertility
technology by smallholder farmers.
Description
A research article published in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
Keywords
Socioeconomic determinants, Organic inputs, Smallholder farmers, Sub-Saharan Africa, Manure, Tropical livestock unit
Citation
Mwaura GG, Kiboi MN, Bett EK, Mugwe JN, Muriuki A, Nicolay G and Ngetich FK (2021) Adoption Intensity of Selected Organic-Based Soil Fertility Management Technologies in the Central Highlands of Kenya. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 4:570190. doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2020.570190